I didn't get much sleep last night. DH and I stayed up and watched Mr. Skeffington, starring the inimitable Bette Davis and the equally inimitable Claude Rains. (The beauty of TCM is that the movies are uncut, the only drawback to that being the long wait for a bathroom break.) It was a very long movie, but so engaging that unless you were half asleep or starving to death before it started, you wouldn't really notice how long you'd been sitting there watching.
Which got me to thinking about movies in general, and classic films in particular. Mr. Skeffington was a black and white picture, which right away means that a lot of people I know are never going to see it, because they refuse to watch a black and white picture. I don't get that. Clearly they have no idea what they're missing. These same people are really big into special effects, too, and computer animation and so forth.
Good stuff, all of that. Star Wars would just not be the same without it. But give me a solid plot, riveting story line, fascinating characters, excellent dialogue . . . .
What better example of all those things is there than Casablanca? Nothing blows up. No 3-D effects. Just a truly moving tale of star-crossed lovers, a war that gets in the way, a husband who's even more in the way, and you have the recipe for the perfect movie. It doesn't hurt to have Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman bringing the story to life, either. And no color, I might add.
How about film noir? I could watch The Maltese Falcon over and over and over again and never tire of it. Nobody could touch Bogart as Sam Spade, and I defy anyone to recast the part of Joel Cairo; there will never be another Peter Lorre. And when Spade kept telling Brigid O'Shaughnessy that he wouldn't play the sap for her . . . well, now, that was manfully done! And it was manfully done in black and white.
For pure dialogue-intense joy, check out The Thin Man. No two leading actors played off each other better than William Powell and Myrna Loy, and there's no wife more devoted than the one who gets mad at her husband not because he hit her and knocked her out cold, but because being unconscious kept her from seeing him kick the bad guy's butt. And guess what? Black and white.
Like having the living daylights scared out of you? Give Bela Lugosi, the quintessential Dracula, a try. No gore, but if you put yourself in 1931, it's pretty freakin' scary! All those old monster films were: Frankenstein (also one of the scariest books I've ever read), The Wolfman, King Kong. The remakes don't even come close. Not even the color ones. If you prefer your chills to be more on the psychological than the physical side, try the following: Gaslight; Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?; Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte; Rebecca. Of course, Alfred Hitchcock provides a wealth of mind-jarring spook stories (and some of those are actually in color!) designed to scare the pants off the unsuspecting.
If you really must have eye candy, then Busby Berkeley is the guy for you. I don't even know where to begin here. The over-the-top stage productions in Dames and Footlight Parade and the various Golddiggers movies have to be seen to be believed. Choreography at its elaborate best. Don't be afraid to watch Million Dollar Mermaid. The early days of synchronized swimming.
I'm not knocking color pictures. Gone With the Wind is my all-time favorite movie and there's certainly no shortage of color there! All I'm saying is that those of you who refuse to watch black and white movies just because they're black and white are losing out on some really fine Hollywood offerings. And don't even get me started on people who won't watch silent films. One word for you: Metropolis. Okay, one more word: Wings. Clara Bow is reason enough to watch that one, boys!
I have a whole big list of great films I've seen, color and B&W, complete with plot summaries. Obviously, I don't get out much, but that's all right. I'm easily entertained. And for those of you who aren't--well, don't miss The Wizard of Oz. It's the best of both worlds.
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2 comments:
Hi, Mel! I remember Gone With The Wind was your favorite book, too--I can't remember how many times you read it in high school alone. Keep the blog comments coming! I just watched, for the first time, Miracle on 34th Street (maybe 35th?) last December--another good bxw film.
Hi, Lisa! Hope you're enjoying the blog. And believe it or not, I've never seen Miracle on 34th Street! I'll have to make it a point to do so. I can't believe you remember my reading GWTW so many times. I read it to my DH not long ago; he was amazed at what a great book it is--so much better than the movie, which is a great movie!!
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